... dig the gold P-JB2 (?) although they could have opted for a nice pair of Aguilar Super Double instead of single coil pickups ... headstock is not exactly what I would consider nice however ...
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Markbass... Yes, they've started making basses too
- Thread starter Luigir
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- bass markbass richard bona
I have to echo the criticism of calling this active tone control the 'G Spot'. It's not offensive, it's just cheesy and incredibly naff. Boutqiue basses are all about that high end, luxury experience - having the best of the best and feeling that refinement and quality in every aspect of the product. This rather tacky marketing stunt of making a deal of this 'G Spot' seems really at odds with what Markbass is trying to achieve here.
I am not going to dismiss this venture out of hand as Markbass know their onions when it comes to making good amps, but I rather feel that they will need a considerable push to break into the bass market in any meaningful way and the signs are that their initial offering is fraut with a few missteps. The most obvious one to me is the naff marketing on the 'G Spot', but there are other issues here too. I don't dislike the Kimandu/Kilimanjaro basses but they have always looked to my eye to look like a poor imitation of the Zon Legacy. The bottom horn looks to have been taken from Michael Manring's extended range Sonus fretless. It looks as though the designers just cobbled the body together after a brief look over the Zon website. I note that Bona played a Zon Legacy a few years ago (IIRC when he was playing with Joe Zawinul).
On the other hand, my brother has the Markbass Ninja 1000 head and cab and it's a really great sounding amp. I play through a Markbass CMD 151P Jeff Berlin combo and I love it. I love Markbass amps, they just have a great tone, but I am waiting to be convinced over their bass offering.
I am not going to dismiss this venture out of hand as Markbass know their onions when it comes to making good amps, but I rather feel that they will need a considerable push to break into the bass market in any meaningful way and the signs are that their initial offering is fraut with a few missteps. The most obvious one to me is the naff marketing on the 'G Spot', but there are other issues here too. I don't dislike the Kimandu/Kilimanjaro basses but they have always looked to my eye to look like a poor imitation of the Zon Legacy. The bottom horn looks to have been taken from Michael Manring's extended range Sonus fretless. It looks as though the designers just cobbled the body together after a brief look over the Zon website. I note that Bona played a Zon Legacy a few years ago (IIRC when he was playing with Joe Zawinul).
On the other hand, my brother has the Markbass Ninja 1000 head and cab and it's a really great sounding amp. I play through a Markbass CMD 151P Jeff Berlin combo and I love it. I love Markbass amps, they just have a great tone, but I am waiting to be convinced over their bass offering.
Could be because they want to maximize the usage of the amount of material they can get from one tree. Most efficient way of making them?
The Kilimanjaro answers the question of what a cross between an F Bass and a Pontiac Aztec would look like.
okcrum
in your chest
They're shaped like that because most of the other makers then and since copied Antonio Stradivari. His instruments sounded good and were popular.
To a lesser extent, several other luthiers of the same time period were also widely copied.
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Reminds me of a hyper bass
I see this going the way of the Trace Elliot T Bass.
Nice instruments but most likely won’t catch on
Nice instruments but most likely won’t catch on
The T-bass was a nice idea but doomed to failure. It was a high quality bass with zero brand kudos. Buyers just didn't translate TC being a great amp builder into them being a great bass builder, despite the fact it was really a branding exercise (what did TE have to do with the basses, really?). They were also pretty expensive when new.
Status made a better job after they obtained the rights to make the T-Bass under their own name (I have no information on the nature or complexity of the deal or how it came to end). Under Status branding, the T-Bass lives on today, faithful to it's original design tenets.
I have never been impressed with Markbass products (both Italian and Asian made), somehow I've never gotten a decent sound out of any amp and I always drown in the mix when I use one. When I saw Markbass is going to make basses, the first thought I had was "well, let's give it a chance" but the design of the Kilimanjaro is such a blatant ripoff of Zon basses and that other bass looks outdated, not very well designed (the knob layout is very confusing to me)... I think they'll be out of production within a few years.
Smooth_bass88
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Yes. I think the skjold and Zon are younger though, than the hexa.( not that this matters
)
They should have called them "Mark".
Here it is! The new Mark Bass from Markbass! The Markbass Mark Bass!
wmhill
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